Last Wednesday Huawei (Mauritius) hosted a forum on the subject of “innovation” at Hennessy Park Hotel. It was a short event that consisted of a prize giving ceremony for the “Most Innovative Idea for an App” and a panel discussion on innovation.

I attended the event with colleagues.

There was an introductory speech by H. Appadoo, the Regional Director of Huawei, followed by a Huawei representative who gave some figures about the company’s innovative achievements. A keynote speech on “Innovation in Business” was delivered by Raju Jaddoo, Secretary of the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI).

Unfortunately I did not take notes about the the App ideas. I recall though that two winners were announced and that one is a student of the University of Mauritius. Since the fellow is not in the country it was a dean of faculty who collected his prize.

The Director of Publications of La Sentinelle, Nad Sivaramen, was invited as panelist. Other panelists were Catherine Gris of Made in Moris, Mario Guillot⁰ and Fabrice Boullé of Turbine incubator. The panel discussion was moderated by Rajesh Dindoyal.

Mario Guillot talked about his journey from an idea to a brand and also the difficulties of his time.

Nad mentioned the challenges faced by newspapers as digital becomes the norm and that every consumer wants information for free rather than paying for paper.

The discussion then axed on the barriers to innovation at work and what employers could do to address the same. I was the last person to ask a question. It was about having discussion on intellectual property. At this point Rajesh called Raju Jaddoo on the floor again, who shed some light on the topic.

Fabrice grabbed the opportunity to remind that the U.S Embassy and Turbine are organizing an event on the 26 April 2017 where there will be discussions on Intellectual Property Rights etc.